Communist infiltration of Hollywood motion-picture industry : hearing before the Committee on Un-American activities, House of Representatives, Eighty-second Congress, first session (1951)

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1586 COMMUNISM IX MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY Also at the meeting was Donald Ogden Stewart. His name is spelled Donald Ogden S-t-e-w-a-r-t, Dorothy Parker, also a writer. Her husband Allen Campbell, C-a-m-p-b-e-1-1; my old friend Dashiell Hammett, who is now in jail in New York for his activities; that very excellent playwright Lillian Hellman; a woman named Herta, I think it is spelled H-e-r-t-a, Uerkvitz, U-e-r-k-v-i-t-z, who at that time was employed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the research de- partment. In addition there was Jesse Burns, a reader. I think that about wraps up those that I can recall. That was a long time ago. Mr. Tavenner. Did you later obtain information that some of these individuals were made members of the Communist Party at large ? Mr. Berkeley. I did, sir. Mr. Tavenner. Or rather members at large of the Communist Party ? Mr. Berkeley. It's the same difference. Mr. Tavenner. Which of these persons whom you have named be- came members at large of the Communist Party ? Mr. Berkeley. Well, I will have to put it this way, sir. After this meeting I never saw Stewart or Parker or Campbell or Hammett or Hellman at a party meeting. They were at that meeting at my house and I spoke to Jerome and Lawson at a subsequent date and I asked them where Stewart and Dash were—I was very fond of Dash Hammett—and he said that they had been assigned to a group known as party members at large. They were no longer assigned to any particular group in the Hollywood section and that I had seen the last of them as far as organizational matters were concerned. I imagine right now they wish they hadn't come in in the first place. There are throughout the country who are members at large of the Communist Party. Mi'. Tavenner. Will you repeat that, please. Mr. Berkeley. I said throughout the country, in addition to these I have already mentioned, there are many other people who are mem- bers at large of the Communist Party. That is very important to the party to have these members at large. Mr. Tavenner. Will you tell the committee what you mean by a member at large, or what the Communist Party meant by the ex- pression or by the designation "member at large" ? Mr. Berkeley. Well, if you are pretty important and you don't want to be exposed—well, suppose Congressman Jackson here decided to become a Communist, God forbid. Mr. Jackson. Would you pick somebody else. Mr. Berkeley. You are stuck with it. It would be pretty important that no one knew that such was the case, and the party would probably not issue a formal book. You would take your oath to the Communist Party, you would pay your dues to the Communist Party, you would take your directives from the Communist Party and you would function as you were told to function, but you would not go to meetings with other Congressmen, or other writers, or other members of the top echelon in the trade unions or the arts. From time to time you might meet with a man like—I am sure these five writers I mentioned as members at large, they un-